Nasturtium officinale R. Br.
Watercress
Folklore –
Where is it referred to in the Tozfot?
Who are the people who use it?
For what medical purpose is it used?
Uses –
Description – A perennial plant of the Cruciferae family whose height is 20-60 centimeters. The Watercress grows dense in brooks, water cannals and on riverbanks – in the Lowland, Galilee, and The Judea and Samaria Mountains. The branches are soft and hollow. Slightly fleshy leaves are cleft to pinnate lobes that widen towards the leaf-margin. Watercress flowers from March to September. The Small, white flowers are arranged in an umbel like inflorescence at the end of branches. Fruits are elongated straight or arched legumes. The fruit contains two rows of small seeds. All parts of the plant have a smell and flavor reminiscence of radish or kohlrabi.
Reference and Folklore - Watercress may be a plant that has been cultivated in ancient times “ and the Sehalim and the Garger (Watercress?) that have been sown to seed” (Tozfot , Sehvit II, IX). The identification of Garger with Watercress is not widely accepted and another commentary identifies Garger with Eruca.
From Maimonides - “ Gargir, he is called in Arabic “Al – Kota” and his name in Greek “ Aoizomun “, in Spanish “Arocka”. The desert species is called in Arabic “Aihacan”.
Watercress is a component in a mixture of spices that is said by Maimonides to: “ Strengthen all of the organs in general and the heart and the brain in particular, and shall late old age, and shall flow the white mucus, and shall prevent the smokes from raising to the brain, shall strengthen the senses, and remove their weakness and help the intercourse and relief the soul”
“And if the Gargir seed shall be ground, and put in a foamed egg with a little Ashtincosh (crocodile) salt, and swallowed, shall increase in sperm and add to the erection a great deal”
“ Zacher Al Tamimi, in a book called Al-Rashid, that if boiled milk, and put while boiling the seed, and if shall drink this milk, will heal from the illness of catastrophic ending. Drinking the purgative medicines, in Gargirim (Watercress) shall be or in they're cooking. And shall drink and he is temperate, and shall liquefy the intestine, and shall wash the remainder of the medicine of the stomach and the intestine".
Watercress is a component in a mixture of spices that is said by Maimonides: " will benefit from the bite of all those that have deadly poison that are very potent, and for spasms of the womb"
Folk medicine – Watercress is a plant very commonly used among the Arabs living in Israel and neighboring country's, especially in Egypt, where it is grown as a cultivated crop with the power of increasing masculinity. As said in a well-known Egyptian proverb "You do not have to eat the Gargir (Watercress) to increase masculinity; it is enough to put a bundle of it under your bed, and its intoxicating scent will reach your nose". Eating the plant is said to hold many remedies: cleansing the blood, dissolving kidney stones, a known remedy for hepatic and bile disease, to cleanse the gastrointestinal tract and more.
Uses – Chopped leaves are used to spice salads or whole as an independent dish. Drinking water in which Watercress leaves have been cooked - Cook 100 Grams of leaves in 1 Liter of water. Drink two cups a day.